Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a complaint about a councillor’s conduct. It is unlikely the Ombudsman would find fault by the Council caused the complainant injustice that justified his involvement.

The complaint

1. The complaint, who I refer to here as Ms X, has complained about how the Council dealt with her complaint about the behaviour of a councillor at a meeting.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault;
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

4. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached that is likely to have affected the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. So, we do not provide a right of appeal against a council’s decision on complaints that a councillor has breached the Code of Conduct. We can only consider if there was fault in the way the council considered the complaint.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered what Ms X said in her complaint and background information provided by the Council.

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What I found

Summary of events

7. Ms X complained to the Council in October 2018 about the behaviour of a councillor at a meeting which she said breached the Code of Conduct for councillors.
8. In January 2019, the councillor wrote to Ms X to explain his view of events and to offer his apologies.
9. The Council considered the complaint and asked an independent person to investigate it. The Council issued a decision on April 2019 that it would take no further action.

Analysis

10. I consider the Council properly considered the issues in Ms X’s complaint and it is not our role to question the decision it made.
11. It seems possible the Council could have issued its decision sooner. However, even if there was unreasonable delay, I do not consider this in itself caused Ms X injustice that would justify our involvement.

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Final decision

12. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint for the reasons given in paragraphs 10 and 11.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman